Pickled plum and calamari salad (Ume ika somen)

Whether it’s in an Izakaya (Japanese tapas bar) or a more refined Kaiseki(where 14 courses is the norm) restaurant, Japanese people are into having a variety of small plates. Like Spanish tapas, these aren’t really big enough to be considered a course by American standards and the idea is to order a bunch of dishes. For people like me that can never decide what they want, this is works out nicely:-)

This is a little salad I made up out of some stuff I had left over in the fridge. The crisp sweet pear, the creamy ika and salty tangy pickled plum balance each other out nicely. If you’re squeamish about ika or it’s hard to find in your area, you could always replace it with some calamari rings seared in olive oil. The asian pears could be substituted for a sweet crispy apple and while the pickled plum isn’t really substitutable, you can find it on the internet (do a search for “umeboshi”).

Hey Marc…how are you doing? I have a question and found this on google…I have some small pickled Ume and want to know how to prepare them for a recipe. They came in a package and I bought them in an Asian store. I was thinking of making a rice pudding and using them, any ideas for prep…otherwise I have it down…elizabeth@cookappeal.com

http://cookappeal.blogspot.com chef E

Hey Marc…how are you doing? I have a question and found this on google…I have some small pickled Ume and want to know how to prepare them for a recipe. They came in a package and I bought them in an Asian store. I was thinking of making a rice pudding and using them, any ideas for prep…otherwise I have it down…elizabeth@cookappeal.com